Figures show Chelsea striker is one of the Blues’ greatest ever

Rival fans may hate him, but Diego Costa is a cult hero at Chelsea, having led the scoring charts in their Premier League title-winning campaign two seasons ago.

The Spaniard may have fallen off his perch a bit last season but the same can be said about the majority of Chelsea’s squad and the former Atletico Madrid man has rekindled his form in front of goal this term, scoring seven goals in his eight Premier League matches so far.

That early figure puts him just four behind his overall tally from last season, which he accumulated in 28 appearances, and Costa’s average goals-per-minute ratio is higher than any other player in Chelsea’s Premier League history.

133 – Diego Costa has the best minutes per goal ratio for Chelsea in PL history (min. 10 goals), scoring every 133 minutes. Menace. pic.twitter.com/DqavIDxFZ2

Averaging a goal in every one-and-a-half matches, Costa’s overall record in the Premier League is 39 goals in 62 matches – just four goals shy of the 43 La Liga efforts he scored in four seasons with Atletico.

Costa’s record puts him ahead of Chelsea legends like Didier Drogba, Jimmy Greaves, Gianfranco Zola and Dennis Wise but he will probably need to add further honours to his trophy cabinet with the Blues if he is to regularly be mentioned in the same breath as that quartet.